


track list

by Clockenstein



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23907508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clockenstein/pseuds/Clockenstein
Summary: Listen to life go by like a never-ending album, and hit play.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. i. heart symmetry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Drunken_Ventriloquist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drunken_Ventriloquist/gifts).



> Some nerd finally full-combo'd the third-hardest song in Music after being a scrub for so long, so she deserves the 2wink content. Have fun.
> 
> Dance in the Apocalypse remains my eternal bane.

It's Hinata who uses the phrase. _Two hearts beat as one_ , or something like that. What a nice sentiment, Yuuta thinks. But decidedly untrue.

One of them had to have, of course, been first; the other second. So already, from the beginning, they diverge.

"That makes us inseparable!" he'd said, too, with a grin.

Supposing Hinata was right about that, Yuuta wondered _what then,_ if he was wrong.


	2. ii. playing tag

Well, it is more like hide-and-seek.

He finds Hinata, five minutes later, in a tree, at the top of a lamp post, or over the monkey bars. At home—when it used to be at home—under the kitchen sink. In a closet. And—when their father finally stopped them—on top of the fridge.

Always it's the sound of Hinata's snickering that leads Yuuta.

When they are older, Yuuta spies, sometimes, the kids at the park. They do it differently. The _it_ always passes in seconds, hardly meters away.

Nowhere, nothing fancy.

It's because Hinata's athletic.

"Isn't _Aniki_ the coolest?" he cajoles. He handstands over the back of the living room sofa.

So he is. So he was.

For necessity, if nothing else, Yuuta follows.


	3. iii. twinkling beats

After night falls, Yuuta Aoi is at the school, though he shouldn't be. But there are other things.

On the rooftop, where no one goes, there he is; a lecture, not meant for him, rings in his ears.

But there he is.

Kunugi- _sensei_ doesn't notice the difference until after the fact. Oh dear, he goes. Once it becomes obvious.

"Honestly," he sighs, "it's too nice an evening for you to be taking the fall for your brother."

And so it is. The stars twinkle overhead. Isn't that rare, Kunugi- _sensei_ says, with all the urban smog?

"It's not as though you cause trouble, yourself," he continues. "But he'll get himself into trouble like that, as an idol. One day."

Yuuta shrugs. "It doesn't take much imagining, does it – _Sensei?_ "

"Not at all. So," he says. "Please look after him."

And Yuuta says he will.


	4. iv. greetings, performers

"Our grades are determined by _DreamFes_ ," Yuuta explains, as they walk home, "and you need to be in a unit to compete."

* * *

It was Shinobu, actually, who'd been drawn into Chiaki's little spiel. But the latter had noticed Yuuta overhearing it. Thinking to himself, it sounded cool. Only a bit.

 _RYUSEITAI_. _Heroes of justice_ had a nice ring to it.

* * *

"Well, that's easy," Hinata grins. "We already have one, right here!"

Yuuta smiles, weakly.

* * *

"Huh? Don't worry— _Aniki's_ the only hero you need!"

It's a joking little objection. But the thought stops him.

* * *

"Well—" Yuuta starts.

* * *

Tsukasa has been talking about _Knights_. It's a storied unit. It's not easy to get into. (Not these days.) It is, so they say, one of the best.

Yuuta imagines himself. Doesn't he have the skills?

* * *

"Hm?" Hinata says.

* * *

"Well," the imaginary Hinata says, "then _Aniki_ will be your knight in shining armor!"

And he flexes a pose in Yuuta's head.

* * *

Yuuta just chuckles, shakes his head slightly.

"You're right about that, _Aniki."_


	5. v. introductions

Today, a riot. Because Rei talks as though he's in a period drama, he might call it a typhoon.

Yuuta finds himself standing under the eye.

While Trickstar is busy backstage, admiring their costumes, it's showtime. Rei's plan is, at its core, simple: Trickstar has to look _good_.

And that means _they_ have to look good.

"It's not good, you know," Yuuta quips, "for the opening act to stick around so long." Keito flushes. Yuuta can hear the audience snigger at him. It's unbecoming of the vice-president to lose his cool.

But to say nothing of the first-year dealing him a blow, in front of the whole school.

* * *

"Heh heh," Hinata had snickered backstage. "Is my cute little brother nervous?"

The beaming grin on his face betrays nothing. Yuuta, after all, is watching.

He can't be nervous.

Yuuta looks him in the eyes.

"Are you, _Aniki?"_

Hinata, after all, is watching.

* * *

"Heroes arrive late, after all," Yuuta tells the crowd. What a nice sentiment. He muses—although it's them who are taking the fall for Trickstar—it's probably true.

He imagines himself being Akehoshi, or Hidaka, if only for a moment. He can't. It would be nice, he thinks. But they are revolutionaries, and he, a performer; stars, and himself, a twinkle.

He has his own role to play. Heroes arrive late, after all.

"—the up-and-coming idol unit Trickstar, will be arriving shortly!" Hinata announces , cutting to center stage.

"So let's welcome them with a big round of applause," Yuuta joins in. "But first—"

 _And,_ Yuuta thinks to himself, _hadn't Hinata arrived first?_

_"Introducing 2wink!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole thing is primarily inspired by the Ghost Stories scout, and then a few bits here and there from events and main story. Psychic distancing is a neat writing tool. Someday you'll FC Gate of the Abyss too, and then I won't look like, in your own words, such a sociopath.


End file.
